A Moment, Speaking Out, And Some Solutions *Open Thread*

First, I want to take a moment today to remember the two young people from WDBJ in Roanoke, VA, who were senselessly gunned down by a mad, racist, gunman. Suzy and I lived in the Roanoke area for over 5 years, and have tremendous fondness for the area, and the people there (the snow drove us back down South – my knees couldn’t take it). To see this senseless tragedy unfold, on live tv no less, is terrible. My heart goes out to the families and loved ones of Alison Parker and Adam Ward as they grieve their losses and mourn for the lives cut short by this mentally deranged man. That our elected representatives once again pounce on this horrific event for political gain is appalling, and they need to stop. At this time, may the families and loved ones feel the love and comfort of those around the country as our prayers go out to them as they deal with this tragedy…

I want to pivot to a different kind of tragedy, and that would be the decision to support Obama’s Iran deal. It is such a disturbing proposition that TWO HUNDRED retired generals, admirals, and White House officials have taken it upon themselves to speak out against it. From Times of Israel:

[…] Among the signatories are top former career officers from every branch of the US military, as well as officials who have served in the White House, under both Democratic and Republican administrations, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

“The agreement will enable Iran to become far more dangerous, render the Mideast still more unstable and introduce new threats to American interests as well as our allies,” the letter, which was addressed to Republican and Democratic senators and congressmen, stated.

Written in response to a similar petition two weeks ago by 36 retired US generals that backed the deal, the letter was endorsed by former undersecretary of defense for intelligence William Boykin, former vice chief of naval operations Leon Edney, and the retired vice commander of US Air Forces in Europe, Thomas McInerney, among others.

“What I don’t like about this is the number one leading radical Islamic group in the world is the Iranians,” McInerney said.

“They are purveyors of radical Islam throughout the region and throughout the world. And we are going to enable them to get nuclear weapons. Why would we do that?” he asked. […] (Click here to read the rest.)

Retired Admirals and Generals are still usually subject to the UCMJ and do not speak their opinions on political matters without some risk. Speaking out against the Commander in Chief could be a big no no. So when you have 200 opposing the C in C, that is significant.

NOTE: Many of the signatories served in the White House, under Democratic administrations as well as Republican. The only thing they appear to have in common is that they consider the Iran nuclear deal a threat to U.S. interests in the region and its own national security.

In other words, this is HUGE that so many spoke out. The Congress sure as hell better pay attention to them since they know whereof they speak. This is not a time for Political Correctness, or capitulating to a crazed power in the hopes it will make them less crazy. It will not.

Political Correctness is all about Propaganda Compliance. PC is the engine of the propaganda machine that produces mass delusion. PC is basically a calculated process of molding public opinion through psychological manipulation. The process is twofold: saturation and suppression. Saturation is the practice of repeating a deception relentlessly and injecting it into every corner of public life so that it becomes accepted as truth. It involves control of most communications outlets.

[…]

4. Fear Fuels the Machine

PC’s main fuel is the primal human fear of social rejection. As with all tyranny, PC gains compliance by manipulating the universal fear of being socially cast out and isolated from others. It’s an inhumane and ancient tactic. The purveyors of PC know it’s akin to the fear of solitary confinement, the most brutally imposed kind of loneliness. In Stalinist Russia, those who fell out of favor were referred to as nonpersons. Others would shun them to avoid guilt by association.

[…]

6. Coerced Silence Kills Democracy

We must never forget that free speech is a use-it-or-lose-it proposition. As it peters out, it cannot be recovered without great sacrifice. As Edmund Burke said, “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” This also applies in full force to saying nothing.

[…]

7. Resistance Is the Only Antidote

To self-identify in opposition to a PC agenda is effective in breaking down barriers, especially one on one. When people speak openly and respectfully about their beliefs to someone who likes or identifies with them, they can be immensely persuasive, even without talking points. They trigger ripple effects in thought. It is precisely these privately sparked ripple effects that PC aims to contain and control through its silencing tactics. As Nobel Laureate Czeslaw Milosz stated: “In a room where people unanimously maintain a conspiracy of silence, one word of truth sounds like a pistol shot.” Vaclav Havel, in his essay “The Power of the Powerless,” spoke of such truth as having a powerful illuminating effect on those who hear it, even if they say nothing in response. […] (Click here to read the rest.)

It is an excellent piece, and I recommend it to you. It highlights how the PC crowd uses fear and isolation as well as ignorance to get people to do their bidding. But it can be defeated, and defeat it we must.

There is no time like the present to begin, especially as we move into this new election cycle.

At least that’s what I think. Feel free to discuss this or any other news of the day.

Once again a cartoon says it better than I can. Thoughts and prayers to the heartbroken families.

As one who lost a daughter over 30 years ago I can tell you that while the pain will lesson, it will never go away. Nature didn’t intend us to outlive our children and when we do we spend a lifetime wondering why we did. And regretting and being angry that we did.

And we see the pettiness of much of what we were wasting our time with.

I was STUNNED when I saw they had planned this for 9/11. WTH is WRONG with these people? Ramadan is OVER, and to pick that date, of all dates, is a slap in the face to Americans. They should be run out of town on a rail…

From where I’m sitting it looks like he’s succeeding. Conservatives are attacking each other about their choice of candidates and the Big Tough Trump is still whining about Megyn Kelly being mean to him. Worked so well for Trump that Cruz decided to whimper too. Meanwhile has anyone heard of seen from the rest of the candidates?

And yeah, the Conservatives are their own worst enemies. They/we have weak, ineffective, leadership in the House and Senate who REFUSE to stand up to Obama. So of course, turn on other Conservatives rather than on the Dems and all the problems they have caused under Obama.

As for the other candidates, I heard that Rubio is going to be on Hannity tonight. And Harris just mentioned Fiorina.

I hope CNN is forced into letting her be in the debate. Their rationale is SORELY lacking in logic…

What a revealing exchange, both between the white cop and the youth with whom he was interacting, but the claims from the black cop that trying to incite police is the “ghetto lottery.” Yes, we can definitely blame Obama, Holder, Jackson, Sharpton, the Black Caucus, my former Union professor, Cornell West, et al., for this mindset.

As I have said before, that Michael Brown, a CRIMINAL whose actions led directly to his demise, is lauded, celebrated, and even has a PLAQUE, says absolutely everything abt those on the Left pushing this mindset.

Let’s face it these are not good people. Good people do not make heroes out of thugs. There are plenty of good, decent, competent, talented black men and women to be role models for the young African American people. Why on earth would the adults push thugs? Is this the end they want for their sons and daughters?

Holy crap. Good thing we are not ruled by the United Nations, that group of terrorist supporting anti-Semites. Without an authorized treaty from the Senate, this is just more of Kerry showing his, and Obama’s, true colors. No way can this stand.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA – couldn’t happen to a more deserving guy. Actually, he doesn’t even deserve this, and that they continue to let him have a show at ALL shows they aren’t willing to do enough to shore up their abysmal ratings.

What’s truly unsettling is that it has been widely taken as read among both the media and the general public that Mrs. Clinton will likely avoid serious legal consequences for her behavior because the Justice Department is ultimately answerable to President Obama – and Democrats will not use the instruments of government to destroy one of their own. Whether that eventually proves true, the sentiment itself reveals a troubling trend in American politics.

While it’s far from unheard of for public officials to apply less-exacting standards to their partisan allies, it’s unnerving that the segments of society charged with keeping those officials in check – namely, the media and the voters – now regard such lack of principle as so unremarkable that it barely merits mention. We have transformed into a country in which it’s difficult to imagine precisely what kind of official malfeasance would be met with more than a shrug of the shoulders.

What was once a “culture of corruption” in Washington D.C. has spread into the culture at large. We don’t seem to care, or some of us don’t seem to care if the people we vote for are crooks so long as they are “our” crooks. A crook from another party is a different story entirely. Such lack of character and blatant hypocrisy is now the norm not some aberration. Down and down we go and where we stop …

It is truly troubling that we seem to have lost any sense of decency, justice, and being law-abiding. That has all gone by the wayside. We elevate crooks and criminals, have massive services attended by White House personnel for them, but none for generals assassinated in the line of duty. The President himself insists that government agents NOT do their jobs, and threatens them if they do.

I guess that they will continue to support Hillary or clamor for someone like Warren is just par for the course these days…

Yeah, that happened to us, too. We got in the car after running into the grocery store, and it was Donald with one platitude after another. But now that I know we are all getting ponies (as Kucinich said), I may have to vote for him after all. JUST kidding!!!

His new Tax The Rich thing sounds a whole HELLUVA lot more like Bernie Sanders, Warren, and Clinton, than a fiscal conservative. As I mentioned the other day, the top one percent already pay HALF the taxes in this country, approx. 25% of their income (Federal, that is). What an absurd thing for him to say.

Trump sounded like the Progressive Dem he apparently is (from the Daily Caller article I posted yesterday). UGH.

What little I watched, retch, gag, of Trump and his attempt to be soft-spoken and sincere was the only thing I’ve seen that was phonier than Hillary Clinton’s claim that there were no classified documents on her bathroom server.

The share of news coverage devoted to Trump has been fairly steady over the past month. Steady and very high, at 50 percent to 60 percent of all coverage received by the GOP field. In other words, Trump is getting as much coverage as the rest of the Republican field combined. But Trump’s Google search traffic is often just as high, or higher.

When the statistics tell you that media covers Trump as much as all the other GOP candidates combined it’s no wonder he has the best poll numbers. A good many voters haven’t a clue who is running or what their issues are. If the other candidate are a member of the dreaded “establishment”, meaning to they hold office or have they ever held office, then off with their heads. Making no distinction is not only ignorant, it’s stupid. But then as George Carlin said:

That is exactly it – there is no room for anyone else when it is All Trump, All The Time. That is why when people for whom I used to respect attack Fox and say they stopped watching it because of how they treated Trump, I just have to laugh at their idiocy. Fox is giving him TONS of positive press, and have little room for anyone else. It is just ludicrous, especially taking this almost VICTIM status for this bully.

I assume the coverage is the same on other networks, judging from your comment above.

If you point out the similarities between the “all Trump all the time” to a Trump supporter you get the same reaction you did when you pointed out the same behavior with Obama from an Obama supporter. Without being called a racist but with enough other invective to seem little different.